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New York - Wall Street stocks finished lower on Thursday following weak Chinese trade data, with large US banks retreating on the eve of major earnings reports.
Chinese exports sank 10% year-on-year in September and imports fell 1.9%, showing a sharp slowdown in trade in the world's second-biggest economy.
JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all fell ahead of earnings releases Friday morning.
Of the three, Wells Fargo had the biggest drop, losing 1.3% as embattled chief executive John Stumpf resigned following a scandal surrounding bogus accounts. He will be replaced by president Tim Sloan.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.3% to 18 098.94, after earlier having pared more than 1%.
The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.3% at 2 132.55, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.5% to 5 213.33.
Delta Airlines rose 1.9% as it announced it plans to add only one percent flight capacity in the fourth quarter and through 2017 in order to boost fares.
American Airlines jumped 5%, United Continental 1.5% and Southwest Airlines 3.4%.
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance surged 11.4% as it lifted its third quarter forecast and launches new skincare and cosmetics products. It boosted its forecast for comparable sales to 14-15 percent from the prior range of 11-13%.
Merck rose 1.4% following an upgrade from Bank of America.
